Sens. Schumer, Gillibrand announce funding for Rochester clean energy manufacturing institute in omnibus spending bill

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) recently announced that the omnibus spending bill includes funding for the Reducing Embodied-Energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) Institute led by the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

The spending bill includes $70 million for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) five Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institutes and funds the federal government through the end of the fiscal year.

In 2017, REMADE won a national DOE competition to receive $70 million in DOE funding over five years to be matched with $70 million in non-federal funding to headquarter a new public-private clean energy manufacturing institute in Rochester.

“I am very pleased to see that following my push, the omnibus bill includes continued Department of Energy funding for the $70 million federal investment in the Rochester Institute of Technology’s REMADE manufacturing institute focused on clean energy manufacturing,” Gillibrand, who led the Senate push for funding for this program, said. “RIT is already at the forefront of our nation’s clean energy research and is a major source of talent for jobs in our state. This investment will give RIT the resources they need to help the U.S. continue to be a global leader in clean-energy technology and support entrepreneurs in New York and across the country who are creating good-paying, high-tech jobs.”

DOE’s proposed FY18 budget would have eliminated funding for REMADE and the other Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, forcing the REMADE Institute to shut down. The funding secured in the omnibus spending bill allows plans for the new Rochester-based headquarters to proceed as planned.

REMADE is a national coalition of 26 universities, 44 companies, seven national labs, 26 industry trade associations and foundations and three states. The institute plans to develop new best practices for to manufacture efficiently, use fewer resources and use less costly raw materials. It aims to deliver a 50 percent increase in U.S. manufacturing sales and create or retain thousands of new U.S. jobs.

“RIT, via the REMADE Manufacturing Institute, has been leading the way in revolutionizing our manufacturing sector for years, and this continued federal investment will build on that legacy and bring more good paying jobs to New York State,” Schumer said. “I will continue to fight for RIT and the national REMADE Manufacturing Institute so that we can move forward on opening and hiring staff for the new national public-private clean energy manufacturing institute headquarters in Rochester.”